Calvin & Hobbes

As I stood by the window and watched the falling stars quietly
disappear near the horizon, I remembered the child in me who had stood in front
of his bedroom window gazing into the depths of a night that was probably more beautiful
than tonight.

There was nothing extraordinary in the air that night, years back. The
child’s uncle had fought with his aunt like every other night and had
banged the door on her face as he was leaving the house to spend the rest of
the night with his gambling and other intoxications, while she silently wept in
the kitchen. He couldn’t blame them much. After all, they were the ones who had adopted
him when he had become an orphan no sooner than when he had completed 10 brief
years on earth. His uncle was poor by inheritance, and lazy by nature, while
his aunt still hadn’t been able to get over her trauma of prostitution in her
early years. He was just another burden.

It was going to be another sleepless night for the child
whose heart had leapt with amazement as his eyes caught the brightest falling star
that he had ever seen. He had followed the streak of light which had grown
brighter every moment, to his utmost delight, and his gradually increasing
heart-beat.

And the ball of light had slowed down, before gracefully descending down
into the forest behind his home. Soon, it had disappeared.

For a long moment, the child had just stood there, still in
doubt about what he had just seen. But he had decided soon enough that he had
to investigate. Keeping aside all his fears, the child had ventured into the
unexplored forest in the dark of the night. And it had not taken him long to
discover the ball of light, as it had shone from far away. And there it was, as
the object shone brightly in the midst of the small crater that it had created
on impact. It was a thin rectangular piece of metal with a shining glass on one
side and it was no doubt the most magical object that he had ever seen. And it
had no doubt changed his life, even if the little child hadn’t known it then.

His hands had trembled in fear of the unknown, as they were reaching
out to retrieve the magical object. And as soon as he had picked it up, it had
stopped glowing. But the shining glass side had unexpectedly lit
up.

And the child had never forgotten what he had seen after
that. Because it had shown him his future.

The child had seen himself travel by foot all the way to the
sacred Eiheiji Temple founded by the great master Dogen.

The child had seen himself become accepted into the Temple, but only as a temple
servant, learning and practicing the art of zazen in his free time.

The child had seen himself become drafted for war, and getting shot at and being left for
dead during the Ruso Japanese war in 1904. But this was
not the end. The child had also seen himself being rescued several days later under
dozens of decaying bodies of his own compatriots.

The child had seen himself spending the rest of his life spreading
his teachings of the art of meditation and Zazen, all over Japan, in universities
and prisons without discrimination or distinction.

And yes. It had all come
true.

A young voice behind him broke the comfort of silence and brought the child back
to the present moment, standing in front of his window watching the falling stars dissolve into the darkness of the horizon.

“Master Sawaki. I was told that you had send for me.” said
the voice of Taisen Deshimaru, the young disciple who was going to be my
successor.

"It is time," I thought to myself, "to pass on my gift to
the next generation."

I looked into the magic device in the palm of my hand that had been my companion
since I was a little child. The mystic calligraphic designs of the words ‘Asus’ and ‘Intel’
etched on to the device, gleamed back at me, almost as if to say, that it was the right thing to do.

And so I said, “Taisen. It is time for you to see, what others cannot
see. It is time for you to do, what others cannot do.”

Above is the image of renowned zen masterKodo Sawaki, the protagonist of the above post.

Taisen Deshimaru who was his disciple became famously known as "The 20th Century Bodhidharma" in Japan.

10:17 AM - No internet for 24 hours. No work for 24 hours. The IBM guy is going to come over today so that we can do some 'complex data analysis'. I feel pretty fucked up right now because I could not do any research on the 'complex data analysis' stuff on the internet. So now when he arrives, I'm just a noob to him.Forget working experience, I'm not even knowledgeable on that topic. And the fucking internet service provider had to choose this time to screw around with their customers.

Anyway, Hyderabad is turning out to be a pathetic experience after all. The weather is fucked up. It never rains, but the people here still call it the rainy season. Its sweltering hot every day.

When I was in Bengal, we waited eagerly for the rains to arrive and save us from the unbearable rain. When I boarded the East Coast express, it was raining. And I came to this stupid city just to face the summer again!

Its a stupid city. The people are filthy rich and filthy dirty. Thankfully the colony that I'm living in has a few hygenic households. Moreover, people here have a penchant for loud bikes. They will intentionally replace their silencer pipes with dis-functional ones just to completely wipe out the primary intention due to which the smart engineers put silencer pipes in those bikes.

In Bengal, It was risky to drive because the footpaths were empty and the people were on the streets. In Hyderabad, its risky to even walk on the footpaths. Traffic is everywhere. And I finally figured out how to avoid accidents while walking on the road. Don't look left. Don't look right. Just keep walking. The speeding bikes and cars will avoid you. You don't have to be careful to avoid them.

Enough of ranting for now. Now its just a countdown to losing the impression I built on the IBM guy.

12.34 PM - I now realize how boring it can be when you have to sit in office with no work, while pretending to do some work. These are perfect moments for rants such as these. At least when other people will see you typing so much they might think that you're coding real hard. That is one big advantage of working in a non-profit organization where you're the only technically-aware person in office.

This morning, I went out exploring the other end of the Masab Tank flyover to see if I could find something interesting. There is a hot-chips shop here, which will suffice my evenings. Apart from that there is a grocery supermarket nearby. I bought two maggi cup-noodles to spare myself from the Amul Pro breakfasts, and some brown bread too. There was also a long stretch of the footpath occupied my fruit vendors who sold only mangoes.

Harsha Didi is actually the most friendly person in office. When she got to know that I'd go over exploring in the evening she gave me her number so that I can call her if I need any help because she lives nearby.
Today morning she invited me to come along with her to a movie (Ek Villain) that she'll be going with her friends. I accepted because I was going to watch Ek Villain myself. And I guess I need to learn how to socialize.

Chandra Sir stayed over at the office last night. We went to have dinner at a Paratha Stall near Jubilee Hills along with Prashanth and some other guy. I'm looking forward to visiting Dine Hill for dinner tonight.

9.55 AM - The telecallers Hema and Shravanti (the talkative one) were the first to arrive. Last night was a wonderful experience. I stayed in the office all alone!

Although I was tired and went to sleep too early to make proper use of the high speed internet here. The power went out at 2.30 AM at night. I woke up to mosquito bites and pitch black darkness.

The inverter power backup was only available in the central room. After a lot of sleepy indecisive moments, when I was about to relocate my mattress to the central room, the heavens sent the power back on.

It was a wonderful moment, as I went back to sleep immediately. My parents (especially my mom) were worried about me staying alone and burglars and other stuff which were amongst none of my primary concerns (come on! honestly!)

Anyway, I am really looking forward to visiting some of the amazing places around here, especially the Golconda Fort. I guess I'll have to wait for weekend to arrive for all that.

Look at me. First day in office, and I'm already looking forward to the weekend. *facepalm*

It was a bit weird for me that I did not talk to anyone for two hours after waking up. Its more weird when you can't talk in your mother language all throughout the day, except when some family member calls you up.9.30 AM - Took an auto-rickshaw from Nampally to NMDC, Masab Tank. My novice attempts at bargaining were only good for saving 20 bucks as I had to pay a hundred bucks to get there. I feel ripped off.

5.00 AM - The Bengali family in my compartment just promoted themselves to the top of my most-annoying-people-to-share-a-journey-with list.

Firstly, I hate waking up at 5 in the morning. Secondly, I hate waking up to the sound of shrieking kids. Both happened. It was like my worst nightmare.

The parents wanted to switch off the light so as not to disturb the other sane people who were sleeping. Their son wanted to keep the lights on, for no perceptible reason on earth.
Maybe that is just what kids do. I remember being a very considerate kid myself. Just ask my parents. (ta
da!)

So there was a period of 15 minutes when the lights came on and went off for more than a zillion times in an unprecedented fashion, before the parent had to accept defeat to the incessant enthusiasm of the kid. Good Morning, world. (Add sleepy emoticon here)

8.00 AM - I'm at the side upper berth, and the lady below me (not figuratively, please!) in the side lower berth, doesn't appear to be an early riser. Well, that is acceptable. But it is 8 already - well past what you can define as 'early'. Its late afternoon for the people around me as they are already discussing about lunch. I haven't even had any breakfast. And the lady looks nowhere near to waking up as she lies in deep slumber (or fake slumber, as I greatly suspect). The shrieking kid should relocate himself nearer to her - and be of some help to humanity.

Unknown - Checked into Hotel Royal Grand. Big words, small hotel. But when decent prices are what you're looking for, this isn't a bad option. At 700 rupees, I got myself a small room, with an attached bathroom, tv, fridge, cupboard and a clean bed. But there weren't any windows. So I had to leave the bathroom door open... which isn't very pleasant, trust me.

11.57 AM - I looked through the window at my parents standing in the rain. They could have moved under the shed, a bit further away from my window. They could not even see me through the one-way window from outside.But they just stood there, getting drenched in the rain. And for the first time before this journey, I felt sad to leave them.I never shared a very verbal relationship with my parents. I never had to say, "love you mom, dad" or "miss you" when they received the message in simpler words or actions.I called them up, and asked them not to get drenched in the rain. So they moved to the nearest shed. I could still see them. They still couldn't.And suddenly the train jerked alive, and began to move, away from my parents standing under the shed, who were still staring at my direction.And soon, I couldn't see them any more.5 weeks. And so it begins.I always believed that I was a free bird. That I had no bounds. That I could move away anywhere I wanted to, at the slightest of opportunity, without ever looking back.But my parents were my strongest links. I am home, where my parents are.

About The Dreamer

The Xeno

Kolkata, West Bengal, India

The Xeno is definitely not an asinine macrocephalus but his highly incomprehensible thoughts and ideas have been known to cause unprecedented bouts of Rhinotillexomania, Venustraphobia, as well as Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia. Ensure life insurance papers are nearby and ambulance on call. Lobotomy is strictly recommended before proceeding.

Hedwig Says

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And he said

"We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried, most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita. Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty, and to impress him, takes on his multi-armed form, and says, 'Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.' I suppose we all thought that, one way or another."